The Defense Department statement said Bradfield
listed The Woodlands as his home of record. Army officials said Bradfield
was born in Pensacola, Florida, and that his wife and mother live in different
states outside of Texas.

Bradfield was at least the 159th Texas service
member to have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003, according
to the Defense Department.
A U.S. soldier, who spent several months living with family
in The Woodlands before enlisting in the Army, was killed in Iraq Friday.Coutesy of the Houston Community Newspapers13 July 2005

Specialist Hoby F. Bradfield Jr., 22, a member
of the Army's 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, based at Fort
Carson, Colorado, was killed during a firefight near Tal Afar, Iraq, Friday,
according to the Department of Defense.

As medical personnel attempted to evacuate
the injured Bradfield to a hospital in Mosul, their vehicle was struck
by a roadside bomb. The blast caused the vehicle, carrying Bradfield and
the medical crew, to overturn, killing the driver and seriously injuring
another passenger, said Bradfield's half-brother, Christopher Orr.

Bradfield, who had lived with Orr during his
stay in Montgomery County, died before making it to the hospital.

"Hoby Junior was very patriotic," said his
paternal grandmother, Mary Sikes, in a telephone interview from her Mobile,
Alabama, home. "He believed in what he was doing and was willing to do
it."

Bradfield, a scout with the heavy armor unit,
was on his second tour in Iraq. He was deployed in March after returning
home just a year earlier from his first one-year tour in the war-torn country.

"He re-enlisted after his first tour to stay
in Fort Carson," Orr said. "He knew pretty much as soon as he got back
from Iraq the first time that they would be headed back."

Bradfield originally intended to re-enlist
for an assignment at Fort Hood here in Texas, to be closer to his older
half-brother. But last winter, he met and married Crystin Bradfield in
Colorado. Crystin is set to give birth to Hoby's daughter in September.

"It's a little girl, which is what Hoby Junior
wanted," Sikes said. "He wrote me a letter about his wife and the baby,
and he said, 'Nana, I never believed you could love anyone that you have
never seen as much as I already love this baby.'"That loving and affectionate person is the
Hoby Bradfield that Woodlands resident Margaret Eichelberger will always
remember.

"He was a neat kid, full of energy and great
fun to be with," said Eichelberger, whose niece is married to Orr.

Eichelberger said Bradfield was following in
the footsteps of his father, who retired from the Navy, and half-brother,
who spent six years in the Army, when he joined the military.

"He was excited about going in the Army because
Chris was in the Army," she said. "He took it very seriously. He knew the
dangers and was still ready to go."

Bradfield's younger brother Jared also joined
the military. He is a Marine, currently assigned to guard the U.S. Embassy
in Nairobi, Kenya.

"He and his brother used to pick on each other
because one was in the Army and one was in the Marines," Sikes said. "Hoby
Junior would always tell Jared that the Army was better, and Jared would
tell Hoby Junior that the Marines were better."

Jared Bradfield will return to the United States
Thursday to attend his brother's funeral, which will be held sometime next
week at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

Bradfield, who was born in Florida and spent
much of his childhood and teenage years in Virginia Beach, Va., moved to
The Woodlands after he graduated from high school. During his time in Texas,
Bradfield lived with Orr and his wife D'Ann and worked at an Academy Sporting
Goods store.

He is survived by his father and stepmother,
Hoby and Elizabeth Buck Bradfield, of Norfolk, Virginia; mother, Diane
Sterling, of Chicago; siblings, Jared Bradfield, Chris Orr, Brandon Buck
and Jessica Buck; and grandparents, Aaron and Mary Sikes.
Posted: 13 July 2005 Updated: 17 October 2005